v On October 1, the 2008 Law on Health Insurance, Decree No. 62/2009/ND-CP of July 27, and Joint Circular No. 09/2009/TTLT-BYT-BTC of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Health Circular No. 10/2009/TT-BYT took effect.
Under these documents, monthly health insurance premiums will rise to 4.5% of the minimum wage from January 1, 2010 (against 3% applicable from July 1, 2009, to December 31, 2009) of salaries, wages, pensions and working capacity loss allowances. For students, the monthly premium will be 3% of the minimum wage level (against the current level of VND 60,000 and 50,000 for urban areas and rural and mountainous areas respectively).
Premiums equal to 4.5% of the minimum wage will also be paid by agricultural, forestry, fishery or salt-making household members from January 1, 2012. The State will cover premiums equal to 50% of payable premium for pupils, students and households living just above the poverty line.
When having medical consultation, examination or treatment, the insured will get hospital fees and expenses for medical operation services wholly or partially paid by insurers.
To facilitate the Law on Health Insurance, the Prime Minister on September 28 issued Document No. 1801/CD-TTg, requesting the reduction of troublesome procedures for health insurance-covered patients and raising of quality of medical care for the people.
v On October 1, Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP of August 13, on land recovery compensations and resettlement supports for those whose land is recovered by the State took effect.
To guide this Decree and some relevant documents, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on October 1 issued Circular No. 14/2009/TT-BTNMT, stipulating that foreign entities and overseas Vietnamese that receive land and are obliged to pay land use levy will be refunded their advanced costs for compensation, resettlement and ground clearance under approved plans by having these costs subtracted from payable land use levy or rents.
According to Hanoi city authorities, new levels compensations and supports for resettlement for entities whose land is recovered will apply. Accordingly, urban households that are eligible for receiving condominium apartments for land recovery but able to resettle without these apartments may receive compensations plus a support of VND 100 million provided by the municipal administration. For peasant households, a support equal to 5 times the use right value of their recovered agricultural land areas will be provided.
v From October 15, the effective date of Prime Minister Decision No. 111/2009/QD-TTg of September 1, on conditions for participation in defense industry activities, foreign entities may be licensed to research into, manufacture, repair and modernize weapons and military equipment; provide commercial, investment and technology transfer services, construct infrastructure, procure and store supplies and technical equipment for performance of defense and security tasks.
v From October 20, debt collection service providers can start their operation only after obtaining certificates of satisfaction of security and order conditions granted by competent police offices under Decree No. 72/2009/ND-CP of September 3, on professions and business lines required to satisfy security and order conditions.
Also under this Decree, only Vietnamese individuals and organiza-tions at home may carve seals, only people’s army and people’s security force units may produce and trade in support tools and hunting rifles.